The fight over Facebook's real-name policy is back

Mark
Zuckerberg marches with Facebook employees in the 2013 San
Francisco Pride Festival. A petition is going around to ban
Facebook from participating in this year's parade because of
their real name policy.Sharon
Hwang/Facebook

The protest goes back to the
fact that Facebook
still requires users to register with "authentic names" and
provide identification if asked, or face being locked out of
their accounts.

Last September, the debate over
the real-name policy flared up as drag queens and
other LGBT community members were locked out of their
accounts after somebody reported hundreds as having "fake
names."

Facebook adjusted the policy to
accept many more types of IDs — like bank statements or magazine
subscriptions — as long as one of them has a photo or a date of
birth that matches the information on the Facebook
profile.

But seven months later, members of the drag community are
saying they have not seen enough progress. Their victory rally
was apparently held too soon, as people still report losing
access over name issues:

Had to delete my #Facebook for not having my 'real name' on there. My real name and identity online has always been Hello Mozart #mynameis

"Given the
harm that it’s doing to people, we don’t think Facebook deserves
to march with our community," organizer Lil Miss Hot Mess told
Business Insider. "It’s nice to see that they want to publicly
support the community but if they want to do that, they need to
match it with their actions and not just showing
up."

Starting this week, Facebook is changing how it treats
reports of fake names. Before, it locked the user out of their
profile as soon as a fake name report was submitted. Now, it will
let accounts stay open for a short window while users prove their
identity.

But it's "too small of a
Band-Aid" for the larger issues facing these groups, said Lil
Miss Hot Mess.

"Ultimately, it's too little,
too late," she said. "It
doesn't address the fundamental issue of the fake name reporting
tool, which is dangerous and discriminatory for many
users."

Transgendered youth, for example, may not have an option to get a
library card or other form of ID with their preferred name, but
rely on Facebook to get support from people around the world.

"Some
of the most serious and disturbing stories we’ve heard are from
transgender people for whom having a Facebook account under their
preferred name is a matter of safety and security," Lil Miss Hot
Mess said. "We’re hoping that LGBT employees at
Facebook will take this seriously and help us advocate from the
inside and not see us as a personal attack."

Facebook may have eased up on
the definition of an "authentic" name, but it doesn't seem
ready to back down on the requirement.

“We are committed to ensuring that all members of the Facebook
community can use the names that they use in real life. Having
people use their authentic names makes them more accountable, and
also helps us root out accounts created for malicious purposes,
like harassment, fraud, impersonation and hate speech," the
company said in an emailed statement.